The Biomedical Engineering Materials and Applications (BEMA) Roundtable (BEMA) will provide a forum for identifying major opportunities for applying engineering principles to create and improve clinical performance of medically useful materials and devices, including implants, as well as for discussion of strategies for overcoming obstacles-technical, legal, or cultural-that impede transition of new materials and devices to clinical application. The roundtable will be a joint activity of the Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems' National Materials Advisory Board and the Institute of Medicine's Health Sciences Policy Program. The roundtable would not provide advice or recommendations on any specific issue or policy pending before any government agency, but may propose formal studies that might be developed by the Academy. The general objectives of the Biomedical Engineering Materials and Applications Roundtable (BEMA) are to: (1) provide a neutral setting for the exchange of information about issues related to biomaterials science, research, and practice; (2) identify and discuss priority issues in the general areas of biomaterials and their use in the development, manufacture and application of medical devices; and (3) conduct problem-solving and issue-identification activities such as workshops that would address issues in greater depth. The Roundtable will facilitate the achievement of these objectives by its continuity over time, the unofficial nature of its deliberations, the neutrality of the NRC/IOM auspices, and the moderating influence of members who have no immediate stake in the outcome of the Roundtable's discussions.
